Once Upon a Midnight Clear
by WarWolf117
Summary: Eight years ago, a giant demon fox known as the Kyubi attacked the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The Fourth Hokage sacrificed his life to seal the beast in a newly born child named Naruto. Now, eight years later, the village is once again under attack by an unknown force... who are they? And what do they want with a young Naruto...?


A/N: Well, this is my first story. Like ever. Constructive criticism is appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

* * *

The night was clear and calm. It was nights such as this that Sarutobi enjoyed looking out upon the village hidden in the leaves on his small balcony outside of his office, observing as the full moon's silver rays painted the village in a beautiful ghostly sheen. They reminded him of a time long gone in his youth; particularly the night he had asked his dearly missed wife Biwako to marry him.

"_It was so long ago... so many years have passed since that time. So many things have changed, so many comrades lost…"_

Sarutobi's old age had taken a toll on him. His body creaked and his heart ached. He was tired. He was tired when he left the title of Hokage to his successor, and he was tired when he retook the mantle of Hokage after the Yondaime's tragic and untimely death.

"_Minato… You were supposed to be up here looking out over this village, not this old man!"_

A small smile crossed the old Hokage's face as he looked up at the moon and observed several stray clouds disrupt his view of the sun's beacon in the night. That's what Sarutobi loved about the moon, its symbolism. That no matter how dark the night, the moon would always reflect the suns light back onto the world. It was hope in a hopeless world. This thought had a sombering and calming effect on him. He closed his eyes to relish the sense of tranquility and peace that surrounded him.

That peace was shattered as the sound of a large explosion near the village walls reached his ears. The professor snapped his eyes open and looked towards the source of the explosion and witnessed several plumes of smoke rising towards the night sky. He motioned for his two ANBU shadows to come to him.

"Neko, gather ANBU teams Alpha through Delta and recon the source of that explosion. Lethal force is authorized. Inu, awaken the Jounin commander and delegate team Echo to awakening the remaining village's Ninja and aid in moving civilians to the bunkers. Go now."

The two ANBU operatives wordlessly nodded and jumped into the night to carry out their Hokage's orders. The mighty fire shadow made a quick seal with his hands and in a puff of smoke he stood in his plated battle armor; he too silently leapt into the night sky to defend his home and people. Only one thought crossed Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind as the sound of a second and third explosion rattled through the once calm night air.

"_I'm getting too old for this shit…"_

* * *

Neko and the rest of her search and destroy team jumped from rooftop to rooftop as explosion after explosion erupted from the great wall that marked the village's boundaries. She motioned for the team to stop a few hundred meters from the wall on the roof top of a large storage facility used to house produce during the winter seasons. She nervously played with her long purple hair cascading over her shoulders as she waited for her force to reach her location. Once they did she herded them into a semi-circle around her for an extremely quick briefing.

"As you know," She began, "the village is being assaulted by an unknown hostile force along the western side of the village walls. We are the first response so any of the enemy's capabilities are also unknown. We will be dividing and consolidating in to two squads. First squad will consist of Alpha and Charlie, with alpha serving as assault and Charlie as support. I wil be in command of first squad. Second squad will consist of Bravo and Delta, with Bravo as assault and Delta as support. Boar will be taking command of second squad."

She shifted her weight to her left leg and placed her hand on her hips in an authoritative manner. "The plan will be as follows: first squad will navigate over the wall at this location and engage the enemy using long-range to mid-range ninjutsu as well as shuriken and kunai. Boar will lead second 300 meters north and jump over the wall there. Second will proceed to flank the enemy and assault through to first's location and eliminate any enemy combative with extreme prejudice."

"Any question?" She asked as she crossed her arms and stood straight once more.

"What's the prize for the most kills?" a lone voice said as a few quiet chuckles passed over the group of ANBU.

"All right settle down, additionally I want identification on who our enemies are as soon as possible. Remember to keep a 360 degree view for security and be cautious. Be swift as the bird, as silent as the night, and strike as fierce as the tiger. Move out."

With that the ANBU separated to engage the enemy who dared attack their home on this calm summer night.

"_God have mercy on their souls, for I will not._ ", thought Neko as she jumped over the wall with the rest of first squad.

* * *

"_Who the hell would do this…?" _ Inu couldn't help but think as he ran through the village, mustering as many ninja as he could to help in defense of the village. He had just finished locating Shikaku Nara, the commander of the regular ninja forces in Konoha, and had informed of the Hokage's will. With any luck he would be in the command bunker underneath the village relaying orders and helping with the village defense and counterattack strategy.

"_Sure the village has a lot of enemies, but we have been at peace for so long, and relations with the other major ninja villages are not nearly strenuous enough to warrant an attack of this size…"_ Inu's mind was traveling at a thousand miles per hour trying to analyze the situation his home was now in.

"_Bah, I can figure this out later, right now I need to focus on the mission Hokage-sama has given me and join him in the fight."_ He jumped into an adjacent alley with sudden urgency as he spotted several shinobi with what his long time self-proclaimed rival might describe as "an unsavory disposition" running down the street like bats flying out of a cave.

"_Now what do we have here…?"_ Inu waited for them to pass and stepped out of the shadows of the alley unnoticed.

"_Looks like the mission parameters have changed. I need to relay that the village has been breached to Shikaku." _With that thought Inu's hands went through several seals at blinding speeds that were barely observable by the human eye.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He yelled with a quiet intensity as he slammed his hands to the ground. In a puff of smoke a small dog with the village's headband adorned on his head appeared in a sitting position in front of him.

"Ah, Kakashi. What is it you need this late at night? I was trying to sleep, ya' know? Wait, what's going on?" Said the small dog in front of Kakashi, or Inu as he was known in the ANBU. The dog's vision traveled to the smoke plumes and fires that flooded the western horizon.

"Pakkun, the village is under attack. I need you to find Shikaku Nara in the command center and tell him our unknown enemies have breached the village and are heading for an unknown target. Please, also inform him that I am in pursuit and will inform him of my findings."

"Ok. I will go as fast as I can. Please be careful out there Kakashi, you owe me a paw-rub after this." Said Pakkun as he turned to go fulfill his master's orders.

"Of course Pakkun." With that the small dog ran away from Kakashi at an impressive speed. Kakashi returned his focus to the group enemy ninja traveling down the streets.

"_Now, let's see what the hell you bastards are up too…"_ He started sprinting down the street after the enemy squad, carful to remain hidden in the shadows. He increased his speed slightly so he could catch up to the barely in view shinobi. They turned down a street to the left a few dozen meters ahead and then took a right, then another left and proceeded straight down the street.

"_Where the fuck are they going?"_ He continued to chase them down the streets of Konoha at breakneck speeds. After a while, Kakashi believed they were onto him, and were leading him in circles, or luring him into a well-planned ambush, but just as he was about to cut his losses and disengage, the enemy squad stopped in front of a dilapidated apartment complex.

"_Why would they stop here of all places…?"_ The copy ninja thought as he observed half of the enemy ninja stack up at the entrance of the building and the remaining half leap up to the roof and do the same at the service entrance. It was then Kakashi took charge of his surroundings.

"_Maple Street…? Wait, Naruto!" _Without a moment's hesitation the Inu faced ANBU operative leapt out of the shadows towards the group outside the ground floor entrance. He made several hand signs in rapid succession and built a good amount of chakra in his lounges. With a loud roar he let his jutsu fly towards his enemy.

"Katon: Gōenka no Jutsu!" The three large balls of flame landed right in the center of the small group of shinobi, lighting them on fire and sending them to the ground in screams. Kakashi, just prior to landing, let loose several kunai to deafen the dying men's agonizing last breaths. Ignoring the smell of burnt flesh and hair, he quickly went over several courses of action he could take for his current situation.

"_Naruto should have been evacuated with the rest of the civilian population at this point, but knowing the stigma that surrounds him…"_ Deciding to that safe was better than sorry; Kakashi dashed up the side of the building and made a beeline for the window which he knew was Naruto's. He quickly opened the window and jumped inside ready for any enemy contact. What he found made him sweat drop.

"_That boy can literally sleep through an invasion…"_ The young blonde boy was sound asleep and tucked in, blissfully unaware of the chaos, destruction, and death around him.

"Naruto, you need to wake up now." Kakashi said as he gently, yet firmly shook the boy to full alertness.

"Inu...? Was gon' on…?" Naruto groggily replied to the familiar ANBU whilst rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"There's no time to explain, but right now I nee…" Kakashi was cut off as a the tip of a highly sharpened ninjato protruded from his stomach.

"INU!" Naruto cried as he witnessed the dog faced ANBU slump off the blade and crumple to the floor.

"So much for Konoha's fabled ANBU division. Couldn't even sense me sneaking up on him…" The enemy ninja with the sword chuckled.

"All right, Waru grab the boy and let's split…" Said the man as he turned to stare at his subordinates. All he found was four dead bodies with blood oozing from their necks, and the same ANBU agent he had just killed standing between them all.

"What the hell..." Started the man before he was interrupted by the copy nin.

"You should really be careful with what you target. You may end up missing your enemy entirely and hitting things just like, say… that stump over there!" Kakashi said as he lazily pointed to a log that lay where his supposed dead body once was. Taking advantage of the man's temporary surprise and confusion, Kakashi charged his enemy and rammed his kunai in the man's stomach twisting it as he did so. The man coughed up blood as Kakashi gently set him on the floor of Naruto's apartment.

"You picked the wrong night to try and fuck with me…" he mumbled under his breath while taking the now dead ninja's headband and placing it in his equipment pouch.

"Inu! But I saw you gets killed..!" Naruto yelled as he ran up to the now bloody ANBU and hugged his leg. Whether it was because the boy was scared, or legitimately happy he was alive, Kakashi did not know. He wiped the blood off his hands onto his free pant leg and then ruffled Naruto's hair a bit.

"Now now Naruto, you should know better than that. It will take a lot more than that to bring old Inu down… Right now we need to get you to the emergency bunkers." With that, he hoisted Naruto onto his back and leapt out into the night.

As he travelled with Naruto clinging to him, Kakashi couldn't help but think something was off. _"There is definitely something fishy about this whole thing… only a hand full of people know of Naruto's exact location, let alone know how to infiltrate the village without raising alarms."_

He'd worry about that after this all boiled over though. Right now his priority was getting the small blonde bundle to safety.

* * *

Sarutobi was running and leaping from building to building as fast as his old weathered bones could move him to join his forces on the front lines. The wizened kage kept replaying what he had just heard from his Jounin commander as he left the command bunker underneath the Hokage tower. He was no stranger to conflict, having fought in all three of the shinobi world wars, and knew when he was being betrayed. He frowned at the thought.

"_The only way that these hostile ninja could have infiltrated our borders was if someone on the inside leaked them the necessary information…"_ It was the only logical conclusion. As he was moving he caught a glimmer of white in the practice field he was passing. Training ground three he noticed.

"_My team's old training ground…"_ He realized and came to a halt.

"_I wonder…"_ Sarutobi faced the practice fields and ran over to them. When he reached the center of the field he came to a complete stop once again.

"Come out I know you're out there… Orochimaru!" Sarutobi yelled to the empty field. For a moment it looked like nothing was going to happen and a pregnant silence hung in the air.

"Kukuku…" Chuckled a pale white man as he walked onto the practice field from the tree line surrounding it, "It took you long enough to find me… Sarutobi-sensei."

"I should have known that you would be involved in something like this Orochimaru!' Sarutobi yelled as he through several kunai and shuriken into the air.

"Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!" He shouted as the weapons he had just sent airborne multiplied three fold and hurled towards the man known as Orochimaru. Sarutobi watched as his weapons made contact with his enemy, and then continued to watch as his now pin-cushioned enemy melted into mud.

"So much pent up anger towards your wayward student… Did I do something wrong Sensei?" Orochimaru mockingly asked as he rose out of the ground a few dozen feet away from the so called God of Shinobi.

"Well then, with the pleasantries out of the way let's get down to business shall we?" Continued Orochimaru as he made the hand seals required for the Doton: Dosekiryū. He watched in fascination as the dragon rose from the earth and fly towards Sarutobi at blinding speeds. The Hokage quickly at efficiently made the same seals and launched a dragon of his own in retaliation. The two dragons intercepted each other and a shower of mud and dirt rained down upon the two ninja, obscuring their vision. Sarutobi took advantage in the temporary confusion and summoned his personal summon to aid him in battle. A large monkey came into existence beside him.

"Enma, I require your assistance in battle once more."

"Of course, old friend. It would be my honor to fight by your side once more. Who is our opponent this time?" Replied the giant monkey king Enma.

"Orochimaru… I am determined to end this long running fiasco tonight." Stated Hiruzen.

"Very well. Let us end this!" Yelled Enma, and in a puff of smoke he transformed into a large Bo staff. Sarutobi firmly grasped it and took off at Orochimaru. He raised the staff high in the air prepared to smash the head of his former student in.

"Now that hardly seems fair." Countered Orochimaru as he jumped back to avoid the blow. He raised his head to the sky and called upon his favorite weapon from the bowels of his stomach. Sarutobi watched in disgust as a sword rose from the pale man's mouth.

"Ah, much better. Let us see which is stronger Sensei, your Bo staff or my Kusanagi!" With that Orochimaru grabbed his sword and charged at Sarutobi. The two shinobi came together in a cacophony of blows and strikes.

"Enough!" Yelled Orochimaru as he jumped away from the Hokage, "We will end this now!" Orochimaru quickly went through a long set of seals at an impossible speed.

"Edo Tensei!"

Sarutobi stood in a mixture of horror and rage as four coffins rose from the dirt.

"This technique is a new low, even for you Orochimaru!" He yelled. From the first to coffins he saw two of the most influential people in his life emerge. His own teachers, Hashirama and Tobirama Senju. The First and Second Hokage of the Hidden Leaf.

"How dare you!" Sarutobi yelled in unbridled rage.

"Oh, it gets better sensei!" Orochimaru retorted before breaking into maniacal laughter. Out of the other two coffins came two more people he had once know before death had made his claim on them.

"Minato…. Kushina…."


End file.
